Earthworld Solution

[bergbros]

I read the article concerning the Earthworld solution and I am amazed ANYONE would solve the puzzle by placing the right number of objects in the right rooms. The last clue alone is impossible to solve. You have to put 15 objects in 10 rooms. My question, is there any hint or pattern that would give one an inkling on how to place the right number of objects in the right rooms for all the clues? Is there anything in the comic books? I only was able to find two clues before I got the solution.

THe worst thing is that when you somehow get all the clues in the game the ending is extremely unsatisfying. You would think that solving an impossible puzzle you would get fantastic fanfare, not the warriors sword and back to the game b.s.

Was anyone able to get more than two clues? How did they find them? Even with trial and error, it would be impossible to get more than two or three cles.

[bcprs1]

Atari is notorious for unsatisfying endings. I would have been happy just to get a "congratulations" flashing on the screen. I think the worst in Riddle of the Sphinx. For years, I never knew I actually beat the game. I always thought I was doing something wrong.

[StanJr]

I've only gotten 2 clues on my own. The Ares one that you always get and the other was dumb luck.

 

I've also scrutinized the comics for every last detail that might provide a clue. There is none. The comics are of no help in figuring out the puzzle.

 

Case in point, the 25-6 clue requires the hook be left in Cancer while the rope be left in Leo. Both characters appear in the comic, but there is nothing about either of those items during their appearance.

 

There seems to be no way to solve the puzzle short of trial and error.

 

Disappointing isn't it?

 

Swordquested Stan

[moycon]

I said it before and I'll say it again. Swordquest does now, did then, always has... SUCKED. Everyone I knew that had that game in their collection (many did), past the first couple of weeks when we played the s*** out of it for hours on end trying to win the prize. Never played it afterwards. It just not a fun game. Don't care how innovative people think it was. The only...And I mean..only reason I and everyone I knew at the time,played that game...Even at the hight of the video game revolution was for the contest. ( Something about owning a gold crown that appealed to many pre-teens back in the day) But I dis-agree with anyone who says this was innovative and now think the whole thing was just an expensive gimmick that didn't pan out. I can't belive anyone who worked on that game thought it was enjoyable to play. And I can't hardly believe that anyone sat down to this game when it came out and said " Gee the gameplay is alot of fun" I cant wait for the next one. " Altho to be fair a did pick up the 2nd one as a kid...Cheap. And I liked the mini games better than the first...Altho they all seemed a little buggy. Still was a pretty pathetic game.

[Scott Stilphen]

I would really love to know what the pattern is to the solution (if any). Given the number of rooms and objects, the combinations are mind-boggling, and I SERIOUSLY doubt anyone ever found all the clues themselves.

[StanJr]

Well, somebody did. There were winners for at least the first two games. I can see no real pattern for the solutions, but allow me some time to scrutinize them further.....

 

Stanquest

[bergbros]

Thanks for the responses. What if the winners just deduced the clue by looking at the comic book only? Maybe they found out about the prime number clue and looked through the comic book. It would have been easier than finding these impossible clues. I emailed Mr. Perry who wrote the artcle. Hopefully I will get a response from them. Also, the contest is so half baked that there was supposedly a clue meant for fireworld (the food and dagger clue) that does not correspond or help you to find any clue in fireworld.

 

I really want people who actually liked the game to explain why they like it. The game is such an exercise in tedium.

 

BTW, the ending in Riddle of the Sphinx is abrupt, however, I thought it was a way superior game than Swordquest. I like ROS.

[StanJr]

I like RoS a lot too.

 

The only draw of Swordquest for me was the comic tie-in and the simple fact that I could not figure out what the was going on with the game. It was like any puzzle, a challenge. And at the time, there weren't many games like it that I knew of.

 

Again, at this point, there is NO way that I can see of solving this game with the comic and instructions alone (aside from trial and error).

 

maybe Russ will chime in here and tell us what he knows about the solutions.

 

As for the Fireworld Clue in EW, its a mystery to me.

[Scott Stilphen]

[bergbros]

 

I'm sure that was the case. You don't even need the game to deduce the phrase- just the comic book and a keen eye.

[liveinabin]

hehe, nice. One thing about swordquest that intrigued me (don't worry it's not the game - I'm not that backward) is that the prize for beating Airworld was going to be a Philosophers Stone. Hmmm, as in Harry Potter and the... ?

What the heck IS a philosophers stone anyway??

[jhd]

quote:

---

Originally posted by liveinabin:

What the heck IS a philosophers stone anyway??

---

 

They're very expensive but well worth the investment if you can find one.

 

A philosopher's stone will convert any metal (or possibly just lead) into gold.

[bergbros]

I received a response from my email message from Russ Perry, Jr. The author of the article publishing the Earthworld Solution. The entirety of which is below:

 

> I read your article on the Earthworld Solution, and I have to tell you,

> I am surprised ANYONE got all the clues in the game let alone the seven.

 

Yeah, me too! :-) To be honest, it wasn't me... I got the solution from

an anonymous donor.

 

> My question is, is there any pattern or clue in the comic books that

> would give anyone an inkling on how to place the right objects in the

> right rooms.

 

I don't think so... We found a slight pattern to the first three of four

clues, but we couldn't get it to continue on from there.

 

> The last hint where you had to place fifteen objects in ten rooms is

> ridiculous. How did the winners find out how to place the objects?

 

Sheer luck, or LOTS of experimenting I imagine. I didn't get an explanation

from my source.

 

> I feel it would be impossible with trial and error.

 

Very near, but never underestimate kids with lots of free time.

 

> Also, did the winners found out the message by just looking at the comic

> and not the game?

 

It's possible yes, but with the first game it would still be a mighty

guess, I think, to get it right.

 

> How did you come upon the solution?

 

As I said, someone sent it to me anonymously.

 

> The worst part was that if you found out all the clues you were "rewarded"

> with the least satisfying ending out there. I mean, there should be some

> huge fanfare for solving such an impossible game.

 

Yeah, that would have been nice...

--

 

As you can see, he thought there was no pattern to placing the objects. The message was not too satisfying. I wish he would have got a hold of one of the winners and asked them how they solve the puzzle.

[moycon]

Here ya go:

 

SwordQuest Fireworld Interview

 

Hope that answers your questions about it all.

[liveinabin]

wow, thanks jonathan - I'm glad someone knew, while I'm at it - what the hell is a sorcerers stone? and why did they rename the book to that in US??? - oops - off topic

[slapdash]

Bergbros:

 

I actually did try to find the winners, but had no success. The solutions for EW and FW were donated anonymously, so I couldn't ask how they were solved. That left me in a bind that way. WW I solved myself, so that was trivial, but sadly I didn't make the tiebreaker -- and I was never offered $2000 by Atari, so I assume the contest got at least that far if Michael Rideout's comments about WW in the AtariHQ interview are correct.

[Paul Slocum]

I really think you could get the solution much faster by dumping the ROM and dissasembling it than trying all those combinations. I don't think it's unreasonable to think that someone would do that to win the contest.

 

-Paul

[ATARIPITBULL]

When I first heard about this game as a kid, I flew to the store to buy Earthworld, and read the instructions and the comic book about a hundred times and loved the idea of it, but when it came time to play, I like the rest of you could only come up with two clues and was lost from there. I did not buy Fireworld and Waterworld until about a year ago, but I only did it to have the complete set. I still say that I like the story line and the idea of using the comic book to solve the game, but DAM they made it way to hard to solve.

[slapdash]

I like in Waterworld that they gave clues -- that made solving it more reasonable than Earthworld and Fireworld. The problem is, it was a little too easy. They went from not being to solve the game, to being able to solve it in an afternoon. I wish they'd found middle ground.

[StanJr]

I just thought of something I really like about Swordquest games. The fact that they only need 1 controller to play, but still has a menu screen and items with different functions. I really like Riddle of the Sphinx, ROTLA, Secret Quest, etc, but they all need both sticks or the console switches. Trying to negotiate 2 sticks at once can be frustrating and annoying. SQ games had no such problems, it had MANY others instead.

 

Silver Lining Stan